A Huskers.com camera man (middle) was knocked down and out last Saturday night.

Photo Courtesy Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations

Courtesy: NU Media Relations

10/03/2012

Randy York's N-Sider Blog

The Official Blog of the Huskers

There's a minute left in the third quarter of last Saturday night's nationally televised game in Lincoln. Nebraska trails Wisconsin, 27-24. Taylor Martinez throws a long spiral intended for Kenny Bell in the southeast corner of Memorial Stadium. The ball sails out-of-bounds, and Wisconsin senior cornerback Devin Smith, in his relentless pursuit to keep Nebraska's streaking wide receiver from catching that pass, goes airborne with the ball. He flies into a "camera guy" on the sidelines, and a whole nation of college football fans cringe when they see a fully padded player with a helmet on collide with someone on the sidelines.

A sellout crowd of 85,962 saw the collision, plus the more than 4 million viewers that made Nebraska-Wisconsin Saturday night's highest rated nationally televised game. According to Nielsen ratings, the Huskers and Badgers drew 430,000 more viewers than Texas versus Oklahoma State.

When you watch the play, you can't help but wince and wonder what a two-man pile-up like that feels like. So you ask the "camera guy" and he tells you that a fast-moving airborne defender crashing into your right quadriceps feels like your leg is broken in more ways than one. But since you once were a skinny offensive lineman at Davenport, Neb., High School, you accept the helping hand from Bell, get back up on your feet, try to act like you're not dazed, pull your camera next to you and try to walk it off.

The camera catches you bouncing back up like the real trooper you are, and when the camera focuses back to the action on the field and shows Brett Maher kicking a field goal to tie the game, you do what most people would do in a similar circumstance.

You pass out on the sideline, forcing medics to move quickly, strap you on a gurney and despite your protestations, take you immediately to a nearby hospital. Nothing is broken, but the pain is still borderline excruciating, so what do you do?

You ask your wife to drive you from the hospital back to the stadium. You get out of the car and walk into the North Stadium just in time to see Bo Pelini finish his postgame press conference. You still have your own camera, so you take the best of your own shots and combine them with HuskerVision's shots and produce another high quality Nebraska-Wisconsin game highlight reel, enabling Huskers.com readers, listeners and watchers to enjoy one of their weekly favorites on the Internet. The video gets posted about 4:30 a.m. and you climb in bed shortly before 5.

There's nothing like a little shut-eye so you can enjoy some Sunday time off with your wife, your little boy and your toddler girl before the grind of another nationally televised Nebraska football game on the road, in the Horseshoe, at Columbus, Ohio.

"I appreciate everyone's concern. I really do, but I'm alright, just a little sore," said Kelly Mosier, director of Web Operations for the Nebraska Athletic Department. "I just got lit up on the sideline and had my 15 minutes of fame."